Military Officer - January 2008 - (Page 42) washingtonscene Indemnity Compensation (DIC) from SBP annuities for survivors of servicemembers who died of service-connected causes. MOAA strongly believes when military service caused a servicemember’s death, DIC should be paid in addition to SBP rather than being subtracted from it. To the extent funding cannot be obtained for immediate repeal, MOAA will seek interim steps to progressively upgrade compensation for these most-deserving survivors. time in the future eroded by subsequent increases in consumer prices.” Disability tax refund MOAA supports repeal of the three-year statute of limitations on filing amended federal income tax returns to recover income taxes improperly levied because of VA delays in processing of disability claims. The VA sometimes takes many years to reach a final disability ruling, and affected servicemembers must file amended tax returns to recover income taxes on retired pay that should have been deemed tax-free disability compensation. Current law precludes filing amended returns for more than three tax years, which causes thousands of disabled retirees to be taxed unfairly simply because of VA claims-processing errors or delays. Stay Informed: Protect Your Interests ■ If you have access to e-mail and don’t already receive MOAA’s weekly Legislative Update, we strongly suggest subscribing to stay informed and participate in short-notice calls to action. Go to www .moaa.org/email today to get the full benefit of your MOAA membership. See “Get the facts” on page 55 for more information. Concurrent receipt MOAA will seek expanded and accelerated restoration of earned retired pay for all disabled retirees, including those “unemployable” by the VA and medical (chapter 61) retirees who were prevented from serving 20 years solely because they became severely disabled in service. (Both the Houseand Senate-passed versions of the FY 2008 Defense Authorization Bill would expand combat-related special compensation eligibility to at least some chapter 61 retirees with less than 20 years.) MOAA is pleased both the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission and the Dole-Shalala Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors recommended elimination of restrictions on concurrent receipt and looks forward to working with Congress, DoD, and the administration to advance corrective legislation as quickly as possible. Permanent ID card reform MOAA will seek to lower the age of eligibility (currently 75) for permanent ID cards for spouses and survivors to 70 or, preferably, 65. As more installations close and as retirees and dependents age, accessing military bases to renew dependent ID cards becomes more difficult. ID cards must be renewed every four years — otherwise, an expired ID card places a dependent’s military health benefits at risk. That’s not fair to beneficiaries whose capacity to comply with DoD administrative requirements is diminished. COLA commitments Work to ensure continued fulfillment of congressional intent concerning retired pay COLAs. Protect against COLA caps, such as those proposed as part of some Social Security reform proposals. MOAA will exert every effort to preserve the congressional intent, as expressed in the House Armed Services Committee Print of Title 37, U.S. Code, “to provide every military retired member the same purchasing power of the retired pay to which he was entitled at the time of retirement [and ensure it is] not, at any 42 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2008 USFSPA equity Reform the unfair provisions of the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA). Eligibility for award of lifetime retired pay should be the same for former spouses as it is for servicemembers — 20 years of marriage during military service, with annual payments limited to the number of years of marriage during military service for former spouses who don’t attain that standard. Divisible retired pay should be based upon the servicemember’s grade and years of service at the time of the di- http://www.moaa.org/email http://www.moaa.org/email
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